ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Finance
Controller General of Accounts organises ‘Shramdaan for Swachhata’ at INA, New Delhi
The Office of Controller General of Accounts , Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, organised “Shramdaan for Swachhata” today at parking space near Kendriya Vidhyalaya, Oppopsite Vikas Bhawan, INA, New Delhi.
The cleanliness drive was led by Shri S.S. Dubey, Controller General of Accounts. The parking space was especially picked up after the clarion call made by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. More than 50 Officials and staff from O/o Controller General of Accounts offered sharmdaan for more than one and a hour. More than 50 bags of waste was collected and transported to the waste dumping area.
After this, cleanliness exercise was also carried out near office of Controller General of Accounts, Block E, GPO Complex, INA besides a tree plantation was done by Shri S.S. Dubey.
Ministry of Finance
Central board of excise and customs [CBEC] to be renamed central board of indirect taxes and customs .
With the roll out of GST, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley while presenting the General Budget 2018-19 in Parliament today, announced that the name of Central Board of Excise and Customs [CBEC] will be changed to Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs . The necessary changes in law for this are proposed in the Finance Bill, Shri Jaitley added
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Ministry of External Affairs
Dr.Vinay Sahasrabuddhe to inaugurate the first programme under the “Kala Vishwa” campaign on Sunday 18th July 2021 in hybrid mode
“KALA VISHWA”: a special campaign with the objective to reach out to the local artistes / artisans
Mumbai: 16 July 2021
Indian Council for Cultural Relations  is an autonomous organization under Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister. It is a nodal body for the projection of India’s soft power abroad. Ever since its establishment, it has emerged as the principal governmental organization for our cultural and academic engagement with the world.
We are pleased to inform that, ICCR has launched a new series of programmes “KALA VISHWA”: a special campaign under Horizon Series for a duration of six months with the objective to reach out to the local artistes / artisans and those coming from rural areas or from the folk-arts category and give them an opportunity and a platform to perform under this campaign, especially during these challenging times of COVID-19. This series will also help our foreign students to understand folk culture of India. The programmes will be in the virtual mode and can be viewed on our social media.
Dr.Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President, ICCR and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children and Youth & Sports will inaugurate the first programme under the “Kala Vishwa” campaign on Sunday 18th July 2021 in hybrid mode i.e. virtual as well as live.
Dr. Sahasrabuddhe will brief the media prior to the inauguration on the conception of “Kala Vishwa” at 3.00 pm.
Programme Details:
Sunday 18th July 2021 3.00 p.m. Interaction with the media at Videsh Bhavan,5th floor, Bandra-Kurla Complex, C-45, G Block, Bandra , Mumbai 400051.Followed by the live programme “Dashavatar”
DASHAVATAR by Shri Om Prakash Chavan:
Dashavatar is a prominent folk theatrical form with a history of eight hundred years. The term Dashavatar refers to the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, the Hindu God of preservation. The performance comprises of two sessions: the poorva-ranga  and the uttar-ranga . The poorva-ranga is the preliminary presentation that precedes the performance proper. The poorva-ranga is the story about the killing of the demon Shankhasur. This act also includes the characters of Lord Ganesha, Riddhi, Siddhi, a Brahmin, Sharada , Brahmadev and Lord Vishnu. The uttar-ranga, known as akhyan is considered to be the main performance based on Hindu mythological tales, epics highlighting one of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. In Dashavtar, all female characters are dramatized by males only using bright make-up and costumes. It is accompanied by three musical instruments: a paddle harmonium, the Tabla or Mridangam and the Zanj .
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Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Impact of Covid-19 on E-commerce
Various restrictions were imposed to ensure social-distancing during lock down under guidelines released by Ministry of Home Affairs , from time to time. During this period delivery of essential goods, including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment were encouraged through e-commerce. Since, the pandemic is still ongoing, it is too early to make an assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the e-commerce sector.
E-commerce operators are liable to be registered irrespective of the value of supply made by them. The benefit of threshold exemption is not available to e-commerce operators. On specific categories of services the GST is payable by the electronic commerce operator if such services are supplied through them. The e-commerce operators are also required to collect Tax Collection at Source  at the rate of one per cent of the net value of taxable supplies made through them, where the consideration w.r.t such supplies is to be collected by such operators. Under GST Act, every registered person shall self-assess the taxes payable and furnish a return for each tax period as specified. Therefore, e-commerce operators are liable to pay GST like any other supplier of goods or services
This information was given by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Inadequate Water Management System
Government has created a number of water management systems in the country like dams, check dams, bunds, rain water harvesting structures etc. to capture and store water. However, large quantity of water still flows into the sea.
State-wise details of rain water saved during the last three years is not maintained.
Water being a State subject, steps for augmentation, conservation and efficient management of water resources are primarily undertaken by the respective State Governments with the technical and financial assistance to them through various schemes and programmes of Central Government.
Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 has been prepared, which is a macro plan formulated to work out the feasibility of various structures for the different terrain conditions of the country and respective estimated cost. The Master Plan envisages construction of about 1.42 crore rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the Country to harness 185 Billion Cubic Meter  of water, by harnessing surplus monsoon runoff to augment ground water resources.
To keep continuity to Jal Shakti Abhiyan organized in 2019 and taken up in 1592 blocks out of the 2836 blocks of the 256 water-stressed districts of the country, National Water Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti launched a campaign “Catch the Rain” with the tag line “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” in 2020 to nudge the states and all stakeholders to create Rain Water Harvesting Structures  suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata, with people’s active participation, before the onset of monsoon to ensure storage of rainwater. The campaign has evoked a very good response and is supported by a number of organizations across the country.
As a preparatory step for the "Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain" campaign in 2021, a massive awareness drive was launched on 21st December 2020 in collaboration with the "Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan" involving Youth Clubs in 623 districts across the country. Over 92 lakh people have participated in the campaign.
Various steps for conservation of rain water with active people’s participation involving village panchayats, urban local bodies, RWAs, NGOs and other stakeholders are covered under National Water Policy, Model Building By-Laws-2016, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme etc. Trainings, workshops, painting competitions, awards, seminars, water talks, webinars etc. are also held for awareness generation and for effective implementation of schemes and programmes on water conservation and rainwater harvesting.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri. Rattan Lal Kataria in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Per capita availability of drinking water
Water being a State subject, steps for augmentation, conservation and efficient management of water resources, including rural drinking water supply, are primarily undertaken by the respective State Governments. To supplement the efforts of the States for rural water supply, Jal Jeevan Mission , a centrally sponsored scheme, is being implemented in partnership with States, since August, 2019 for provisioning of potable tap water supply to every rural household of the country, by 2024.
At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, 3.23 Crore rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, 6.70 Crore households have been provided with tap water connections in last 35 months. Thus, as on 02.08.2022, out of 19.11 Crore rural households in the country, around 9.93 Crore  households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes. Further, as reported, out of around 16.99 lakh rural habitations in villages across the country, 16.73 lakh  habitations have provision of potable drinking water with sources at a reasonable distance. However, 0.26 lakh  rural habitations are reported to have water quality issues in drinking water sources.
Water availability per person  is dependent on population of a country and the per capita water availability in the country is reducing due to increase in population. The average annual per capita water availability in the years 2001 and 2011 was assessed as 1816 cubic meters and 1545 cubic meters respectively which would have further reduced to 1486 cubic meters in the year 2021 as per projected population projections. Further, the average annual water availability of any region or country largely depends on hydro-meteorological and geological factors and the availability of drinking water in rural areas is also affected by many factors which include, inter alia, depletion of ground water level, contamination of surface water sources, drying up of ponds & wells, deficient rainfall leading to insufficient recharge of water bodies etc..
To control water depletion and promote rain water harvesting/ conservation, details of major initiatives taken by the Government are available at:
http://jalshaktidowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf
This information was given by the Minister of State, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
MoS Dr Jitendra Singh to inaugurate the All India Pension Adalat and give away Anubhav Awards on Tuesday
600 retiring Central Government employees to participate in Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop
The Union Minister of State  for Development of North Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the All India Pension Adalat here tomorrow.
The Pension Adalat, being organised by the Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare , will be one of the largest exercises for Pensioners’ Welfare ever undertaken by the Government as part of Good Governance dedicated to Central Government Pensioners. It is a unique effort wherein on a single day all the Central Government Ministries would be conducting their respective Pension Adalats in which on-the-spot resolution would be provided across the table to the grievance holder.
All the stakeholders of the pensioner’s case viz. the Department, Pay and Account Officer, the concerned Bank, along with the pensioner or his representative, will settle the grievance within the framework of extant rules. This is a great reformative measure to get the grievances resolved in the quickest possible way by avoiding unnecessary recourse by the pensioners to Courts.
It is expected that this measure will resolve issues of thousands of pensioners in one day, in a single sitting across the country. In addition to the Central Ministries, the Offices of Accountant General would be separately addressing the Pensioner grievances of All-India Service officers, in all the states across the country.
Besides the Pension Adalat, a Pre-Retirement Counselling  is also scheduled for the Central Government employees who are about to retire in the next six months. 600 retiring Central Government employees will participate in this PRC out of which a significant number will also be from the Central Armed Police Forces. The objective of the PRC Workshop is to create awareness about post-retirement entitlements as well as to educate them on advance planning for retirement including medical facilities and participation in voluntary activities after retirement.
On the occasion, Dr. Jitendra Singh will also give away the Anubhav Awards-2018 to recognise the contribution of the Central Government employees to the Anubhav Portal which is designed to create an institutional memory for successive generations of Central Government employees. It may be recalled that the Anubhav scheme had been instituted at the call of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the year 2015. This is meant to encourage retiring and retired employees to submit an account of their experiences while working in the government and thereby create an institutional memory to help in future governance as well as to motivate and inspire different generations of government officials in their respective assignments. The scheme has resulted in registering more than 5,000 Anubhavs from Government employees till date from 91 Departments.
Ministry of Defence
VISIT OF INDIAN SHIPS TO PORT RASHID DUBAI 
Indian Navy's frontline platforms INS Visakhapatnam and INS Trikand under the Command of RAdm Vineet McCarty, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, are visiting the port Rashid, Dubai from 08 to 11 August 2023. INS Visakhapatnam and INS Trikand are commanded by Captain Ashok Rao and Captain Pramod G Thomas respectively.
During the visit, the ships will undertake professional interactions with UAE Naval Force on various elements of maritime operations and share best practices aimed at enhancing cooperation and strengthening ties between the two navies. Bilateral exercise ‘Zayed Talwar’ is also scheduled with the UAE navy to enhance interoperability and synergy between the two navies. The current visit shall further enhance maritime partnership between the two navies and foster a common understanding of the security challenges in the region.
Ministry of Defence
SIGNING OF TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE CONDUCT OF NAVY TO NAVY TALKS BETWEEN THE INDIAN NAVY AND THE AUSTRALIAN NAVY
Consequent to the signing of ‘Joint Guidance for the India - Australia Navy to Navy Relationship’ document by the Chiefs of the Indian Navy  and the Royal Australian Navy  on 18 August 2021, the ‘Terms of Reference for the Conduct of Navy-to-Navy Talks between the Indian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy’ was signed on 29 Sep 2021. The signing ceremony was held virtually between Rear Admiral Jaswinder Singh, ACNS , IN and Rear Admiral Christopher Smith, DCNS, RAN.
The ‘Joint Guidance’ document sets forth the Navy to Navy  Talks as the ‘Principal’ medium for the guiding the bilateral relationship. The bilateral defence relations between India and Australia have strengthened over the years. ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, conduct of trilateral Maritime Security Workshop and RAN participation in Exercise MALABAR are significant milestones which underline the role played by both Navies in bolstering this relationship in recent times. The document would be pivotal in consolidating the shared commitment to promote peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo - Pacific region.
The inaugural Navy-to-Navy Talk with Australia was held in 2005. Since then, the two nations and Navies have continued to grow closer at all levels and with over a decade of bilateral talks, they remain more committed than ever to strengthen and deepen this important Navy to Navy relationship.
The document underpins the broad objective of deeper mutual understanding, trust and transparency, improved goodwill and understanding of each other’s concerns and future directions, and provides detailed guidance for the conduct of IN - RAN N2N Talks. It also provides flexibility for implementation of separate agreements based on the specific outcomes of the Talks.
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Union Minister Shri Anurag Thakur congratulates Kangra Central Cooperative Bank on phenomenal growth
Growth of over Rs 3000 Crores a result of dedication of employees: Shri Anurag Thakur
“Prosperity through co-operation”, Shri Thakur recalls PM Shri Narendra Modi’s vision
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Shri Anurag Thakur has today congratulated the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank  on its phenomenal turn around. The bank which had suffered a loss of around Rs 46 crore in just four years has earned a profit of Rs 87 crores in the financial year 2021-22. The Minister expressed his profound happiness that this also happens to be the highest ever profit earned by the bank.
Shri Thakur reiterated the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi that the Government is steadfast in its efforts to merge the spirit of Cooperation with the Spirit of ‘Azadi ka Amritkaal’. The Prime Minister has categorically stated that the Government is working to ensure that cooperative societies become competitive in the market and get a level playing field and reduction in taxes on cooperatives is a move towards that goal, the Minister recalled. The remarkable achievement of the bank will further the motto of “Sahkarita Se Samriddhi” .
The Minister acknowledged the growth of the bank in the last four years and said the bank has seen substantial increase in enrolment of customers under various social security schemes. He congratulated all the 1,400 employees of the bank whose dedication to serving the bank’s over 17 lakh customers has resulted in an impressive growth of over Rs 3000 crores in last four years.
About Kangra Central Cooperative Bank 
The KCCB was issued Certificate of Registration in 1920 and started operations in March of the same year. The bank currently has 26 branches with its Head Office at Dharamshala. During the last four years, the bank has seen tremendous growth in various indicators. Investments of the bank have increased by Rs 2324 crore while reserve funds have grown by Rs 26 crores. The Net Profit has increased to Rs 87.53 Crore in financial year ending 31st March, 2022 compared to Rs 4.55 Crore as on 31st March 2018.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Shri Ram Vilas Paswan reviews BIS Activities
Issues related to redressal mechanism of complaints, mandatory certification and effective implementation of the provisions of new BIS Act 2016 discussed
Shri Ram Vilas Paswan chairs Parliamentary Consultative Committee
The Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution chaired by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution was held today at Parliament Annex in presence of the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri C.R Chaudhary, distinguished MPs and concerned officials from the Ministry
Shri Ram Vilas Paswan reviewed the activities of Bureau of Indian Standards  and laid emphasis on easy redressal mechanism of complaints, mandatory certification, enhancing consumer confidence through publicity and various other interactive measures. Shri Paswan also stressed on the effective implementation of the provisions of new BIS Act 2016.
The Members of the Committee discussed issues related to improvement in core activities of the BIS, such as Standards formulation, Certification, Hallmarking, Laboratory Testing, Consumer Affairs and International Cooperation etc.
Earlier, the Director General, BIS made a presentation to the Consultative Committee on Consumer Affairs regarding a broad overview of BIS activities and new thrust areas identified by BIS.
BIS through its core activities of standardization and conformity assessment, has been benefiting the national economy by providing safe, reliable and quality goods; minimizing health hazards to consumers; protecting the environment, promoting exports and imports substitute; controlling over proliferation of varieties etc. The standards and certification scheme of BIS apart from benefitting the consumers and industry also supports various public policies especially in areas of product safety, consumer protection, food safety, environment protection, building and construction, etc.
In recent years, BIS has worked towards specifically addressing various national priorities and other government initiatives like Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, Digital India, Make in India and ease of doing business through its activities of standardization and certification. In standards development, BIS continues to address issues of technology changes and advancements, climate change, environment and energy conservation, conditions of health and safety and facilitation of trade. In the area of conformity assessment BIS is working towards making the processes simpler and faster.
The meeting was attended by Shri Ram Prasad Sarmah , Ramesh Chander Kaushik  and Shri Balwinder Singh Bhunder .
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Ministry of Commerce & Industry
6TH RCEP Ministerial Meeting begins in Singapore
(Suresh Prabhu participating in the 6th RCEP Ministerial Meeting
Union Minister of Commerce& Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu,is leading the Indian delegation for the 6th RCEP Trade Ministers’ Meeting which begins in Singapore today.
The Minister will participate in the meetingconsisting of 10 ASEAN countries and six ASEAN FTA partners namely, India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The meeting is being held on 30th-31st August 2018. India has been constructively engaged in the RCEP negotiations with an aim to work towards a high quality, balanced and inclusive outcomes that take into consideration sensitivities and interests of member countries. The Ministers will give guidance to the Trade Negotiating Committee of RCEP to enable negotiations move forward.
On 1stSeptember 2018, Suresh Prabhuwilltake part in the 6th East-Asia Economic Ministers’ Meeting, attended by Trade and Economic Ministers of 10 ASEAN countries and 8 Dialogue Partners of ASEAN including India, China, US, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.The Ministers will deliberate onthe current global economic situation and exchange views on promotion of rule-based multilateral trading system and its importance to the stability and effective functioning of the global economic order.
This will be followed by the 15thIndia-ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting  which will take stock of the current level of trade and economic engagement between India and ASEAN. During the meeting the Indian Commerce Minister will take up the issue of initiating the review meeting of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement with a view to enhancing utilization of the bilateral FTA for mutual benefit.
ASEAN is amongst the fastest growing markets in the world and presents substantial trade and investments opportunities for India. ASEAN has emerged as the second largest trade partner of India in 2017-18 with bilateral trade valued at US$ 81.33 billion, comprising 10.58% of India’s total trade with the world.